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ERP system

7 Business Central Features Every CFO Should Know About
20
Jul

7 Business Central Features Every CFO Should Know About 

The position of the CFO has undergone dramatic changes. Not anymore do you act merely as a “chief number cruncher”; rather, you now become a catalyst for growth of the business. How? It is by means of an integrated system with smart functionality providing up-to-date insight into the financial wellbeing of the company.  There are seven Business Central features which every CFO needs to be aware of to maximize their efficiency.  1.Real-Time Financial Dashboards  There are no more waiting periods of several weeks after closing the books at the end of the month before you can find out how the business is doing. In Business Central, there are role-based real-time dashboards for the CEO which enable him/her to see the KPIs, to monitor liquidity, profitability, and expense ratios. Power Bi Finance app also helps to monitor KPIs.  2. Intuitive Cash Flow Forecasting  Cash is the heart and soul of any business but forecasting it has always been a tough job. With the help of Business Central, you can remove this uncertainty because it helps you in forecasting your cash flows using historical data as well as planned receivables and payables. It gives you an edge over your competitors as it helps you plan for any shortfall in the future and manage your cash intelligently.  3. Automated Accounts Payable/Receivable Workflows  Data entry is time-consuming and creates errors which cost money. With Business Central, you don’t have to enter all that data manually. With automated accounts payable and receivable workflows, you get more free time to use on other tasks. Tasks like matching invoices and even automated payment recommendations save you plenty of time.  4. Smooth Power BI Reporting  Traditional financial reports may fail to paint a complete picture. Since Business Central is native to the Microsoft environment, it automatically provides native integration with Power BI. This means that CFOs can create customized financial reports without moving data into Excel. With Business Central, you will be able to drill-down from a high level of financial reports straight into transactional details.  5. Easy Intercompany Consolidations  When running more than one subsidiary or entity, financial consolidations are often time-consuming and error-prone due to version control issues. With Business Central, all intercompany postings and eliminations are done automatically. Financial consolidations in various currencies and fiscal years using various charts of account can be created easily in just a couple of clicks.  6. International Compliance and Multi-currency  Going international means dealing with many different tax laws, financial reporting, and exchange rates. Business Central has built-in support for an unlimited number of currencies, automatic conversion to exchange rates, and localized tax compliance. The more you expand internationally, the more the system will adapt to local financial rules reducing the compliance risks and burden of your internal audit team.  7. Artificial Intelligence in the Form of Copilot  The future of accounting involves predictive analytics, and now you have access to that through Microsoft Co-pilot. CFOs can prompt Co-pilot using natural language to generate a summary of the financial performance of the company, analysis of anomalies in budget variances, and even sales forecasting. AI assistance allows you to save several hours of tedious data mining every week and transform it into strategic narrative.  Conclusion  For the contemporary CFO, Business Central is not only an ERP system but a strategic ally. It allows you to automate mundane tasks, get rid of siloed data and use artificial intelligence to provide predictive insights. If your current financial software is hampering your work, it might be high time to consider implementing Business Central in your company.
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One Source of Truth: Understanding Consolidations in Business Central for Multi-Company Reporting
22
Jun

One Source of Truth: Understanding Consolidations in Business Central for Multi-Company Reporting 

As the size of businesses expands, they tend to become more complex entities with a range of subsidiaries, branches, and legal forms of existence. A business may start with one headquarters, only to acquire a distributor in another area or develop an entirely separate manufacturing branch. Although expansion is always an exciting process. It raises serious questions regarding the ability of the finance department to manage the finances of the whole business. The information spreads across different databases and currencies. Solve this problem by using the Consolidation in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.  Dealing with the “Spreadsheet Maze”  Prior to introducing an ERP system, most companies must resort to traditional methods to integrate their financial figures. In such instances, trial balances are normally exported to Excel from multiple sources. Also it gets adjusted for the differences in currencies before being combined into one document.  As an option, this method may work fine for very small companies. However, it is fraught with the danger of version control problems, wrong formulas, lack of security, etc. Moreover, this process takes much longer, and by the time information integrates, it is already out-of-date. This situation, causing executives to make decisions based on an outdated picture of things.  Business Central Consolidation Process  The following process simplifies the whole procedure by letting you combine all your subsidiaries’ data into one consolidated company regardless of the chart of account, fiscal year, or currency used by each individual subsidiary.  There are two key approaches to consolidations in Business Central:  Internal Consolidation: If all of your subsidiaries use Business Central, then this will allow you to automate the importing of subsidiary databases into the consolidated company.  External Import: In the case of subsidiaries that may be using other ERPs or legacy systems, Business Central lets you import information through XML or Excel ports.  Critical Characteristics of Correct Reporting  What truly sets the Consolidations module apart is its ability to address complexities involved in accounting both internationally and domestically:  Foreign Exchange: When dealing with foreign companies, exchanging them into a reporting currency (USD, EUR, and other) becomes an annoying issue. Business Central deals with this automatically by translating subsidiaries according to the pre-determined exchange rates.  Mapping of Charts of Accounts: In many cases, subsidiaries will have charts of accounts, which differ significantly from those of other subsidiaries and the parent company. Thus, when consolidating subsidiary companies, some accounts need to be mapped to a uniform set of accounts. Business central software makes it possible, and “Marketing expense,” which was originally designated as “Account 6000,” becomes “Account 8050,” etc.  Intercompany Elimination: Without a doubt, the most important characteristic of consolidation is the elimination of internal operations. Since the revenues that arise from them are, strictly speaking, fictitious. This operation can be performed easily with Business Central; the software automatically generates eliminations regarding inter-company payables, receivables, and revenues.  The Strategic Advantage  Using proper consolidation in Business Central elevates the function of finance from being purely tactical to something strategic. With the automation of the tedious task of aggregating data and translating currencies, finance executives can close their books more efficiently.  But most importantly, it gives you a “single version of the truth.” There will no longer be confusion on which Excel sheet is correct because you’ll have access to live and consolidated dashboards. Perhaps even through Power BI, to examine the profitability of the company, break it down to specific regions, and see trends that won’t be evident with fragmented data.  In today’s dynamic business environment, visibility is power. Get it with the help of Business Central’s consolidation capabilities. 
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The Distributor’s Edge: Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Leads the ERP Market
18
May

The Distributor’s Edge: Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Leads the ERP Market 

In the competitive environment that is wholesale distribution, the line between making profits and losses is a very thin one indeed. Today’s wholesaler operates under a business climate where margins are slim, the supply chain is unpredictable, and customer demands are always on the increase.  Wholesalers, therefore, have no choice but to adopt a more sophisticated ERP system. There may be many systems available in the marketplace, but the best is without doubt Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Here is how it is surpassing all competitors.  1. Effective Stock Control and Warehousing  In distribution, stock is money in the shelves. Poor stock control will lead to the death of the company. Business Central allows for extensive and detailed control over the stock, which is much more than mere counting.  It has sophisticated warehousing functions, such as bin control, pick/put-away operations, and guided pick/ship. Also it allows for various unit-of-measure conversions, and this means that no matter whether you purchase at pallets or sell at units, everything will tally up. It also uses smart forecasting to predict future demand from past sales. This helps minimize dead stock and avoid stockouts, which may lead to strained client relations.  2. The Strength of the Microsoft Ecosystem  The second very convincing advantage that makes BC the market leader is its easy integration with familiar applications used by company employees. There are many ERP systems out there, which seem to be alien to employees who need a lot of time to learn how to use it.  Business Central resembles familiar Office applications like Outlook and Excel. Users can see business information right in their email or manipulate financial information in Excel and automatically publish the data back into the ERP system. Integration with Power BI provides opportunities for creating impressive, up-to-date dashboards showing sales performance.  3. Flexibility and Scalability in the Cloud  Traditional legacy ERP applications tend to be both costly to own and tough to upgrade. Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) application. What this means is that the distributor will have the luxury to access all the information regardless of his location whether it be in the warehouse, meeting clients on-site, or even working remotely.  Another important characteristic of a good software is scalability. When an organization is growing, either through additional warehouse facilities or geographical expansions, the software must have the capacity to grow with the business, without incurring any hardware upgrades or costs.  4. Smooth Integration into the Supply Chain  A contemporary distributor is one link among many in a complex chain. One of the key advantages of Business Central is its seamless integration. It comes with powerful APIs, which make the system seamlessly connect with eCommerce platforms (such as Shopify or Magento), CRM tools, and leading carriers (like UPS and FedEx).  Such automation helps cut out any manual entry. As soon as an order is placed by a customer, it goes straight into the ERP system, inventory allocation happens, the shipping label is printed out, and the customer is notified without any involvement of a person who enters all this manually.  Conclusion  Wholesale distribution is all about efficiency, and Business Central is on top of the pack due to its ability to offer specific functions in an easy-to-use Microsoft cloud environment.  If distributors want to improve their business by enhancing efficiency and empowering their employees, then Business Central will be more than an ERP; it will be the way forward.
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How Predictive Analytics in Business Central Improves Business Decisions
27
Apr

How Predictive Analytics in Business Central Improves Business Decisions 

Have you ever felt like you’re driving your business blind by only looking through the rear-view window?  Traditional business reporting gives you visibility on what has happened over the last month, last quarter, or last year. While historical data is certainly important, it is often historical or “rear-view window” data. It is often too late to react to a trend or opportunity revealed by a standard report. By the time you identify a trend or opportunity through a standard report, it may be too late to capitalize on it or avoid a catastrophe. This is where Predictive Analytics within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central shifts the paradigm.  Here is how Business Central’s Predictive Analytics empowers you to make more intelligent decisions, sooner, and more profitably.  1. Optimizing Inventory with Demand Forecasting  For companies with inventory levels, it is a constant balancing act between having too much in stock and tying up cash flow and incurring additional costs for storage and having too little in stock and risking losing sales and alienating customers.  Business Central utilizes its capabilities in predictive analytics to examine historical sales data and current market conditions to create Demand Forecasts for companies with inventory levels.  The Decision: Instead of making educated guesses on how many of something to order based on historical sales data, you use artificial intelligence to predict future demand.  The Result: You save costs and maximize the effectiveness of your purchasing budget.  2. Mastering Cash Flow with “Smart” Predictions  Cash flow is lifeblood to any business. One of the most stressful things about being a business owner is worrying whether you are going to have enough cash to meet those bills and taxes that are coming due next month.  Business Central offers a Cash Flow Forecast chart that goes beyond simple due dates. With Azure AI, it can learn the payment patterns of your unique customers.  The Insight: Perhaps it recognizes that “Customer A” is a Net 30-day customer but pays in 45 days.  The Decision: Cash Flow Forecast automatically takes this into account and updates the payment date.  The Result: With this information, you can secure financing or put off expenses before a cash shortage occurs, rather than scrambling when checks start bouncing.  3. Mitigating Risk with Late Payment Prediction  Offering credit to your customers is an essential part of sales. However, it is also an area of risk with “bad debts.” Hunting down late payments is a tedious task. In fact, at times it may even harm your relationship with the customer if you end up chasing the wrong one.  What Business Central Does  Late Payment Prediction is an extension available on Business Central, developed by Azure AI. It analyses all your outstanding invoices and assigns a “risk score” to each of your customers based on its prediction of late payment.  The Decision  With Business Central, you have an opportunity to be strategic with your collections. If a customer has a “high risk” score, you may send a friendly reminder a few days before the payment is due. Conversely, if a customer has a “low risk” score, you may wait a few days after the payment is due to avoid annoying your customer.  The Result  With Business Central, your accounts receivable team becomes efficient, and your cash flow improves without annoying your customer.  4. The Competitive Advantage: Data-Driven Agility  The ultimate advantage of using predictive analytics with Business Central is agility.  In a changing marketplace, the companies that succeed are those that can change direction quickly. If your ERP system is warning you about a potential drop in sales or cash flow problems weeks in advance, then you have time to react.  You are not fighting fires; you are preventing them from happening.  Conclusion  Predictive analytics is no longer something only the titans of industry with the deepest pockets for IT can afford. With the integration of these features directly into Business Central, Microsoft has put the power of big data into the hands of SMEs.  If you are ready to stop looking in the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield, then it is time to tap into the predictive potential of your Business Central solution. 
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